Maori society’s songs and chants

Press, 17 July 1976, Page 15

Maori society’s songs and chants

Traditional Songs of the Maori. By Mervyn McLean and Margaret Orbell. A. H. and A. W. Reed. 324 pp. N.Z. price $3O. (Reviewed by Ashley Spice) Evn the untutored ear can detect, at Maori cultural concerts or competitions, the difference between traditional songs and chants performed by "purist” groups, and the more Europeanised songs and chants performed by groups concerned to entertain a modern audience rather than to recapture the sounds the preEuropean Maoris might have made. This is definitely a book for the purists. It discusses, and then sets out, a collection of 50 of the hundreds of the traditional chants which have been

recorded for an archive of traditional music in Auckland by Mervyn McLean. These chants were, in traditional Maori society and in postEuropean Maori society when the traditions survived, sung or recited generally by a group in unison, with a leader, on a wide variety of occasions. Most are concerned with occasions when different social groups encountered each other, but some are personal, solitary and contemplative. An indication of the range of occasions on which the old-time Maori might release or give expression to his feeling by breaking out into a chant is given by the authors’ remark that a waiata might be sung to lament the death of a loved one or because the composer’s potatoes had been eaten by Pigs. The most interesting part of the introductory material is that in which the different types of songs or chants are listed and briefly described. Almost all New Zealanders are familiar with the terms “haka” and “poi” and perhaps “waiata.” But the general ignorance of traditional Maori songs is such that most do not know that "haka,” for example, is not used exclusively for war dances but can apply to songs or chants accompanying a posture dance performed for many other purposes. But quite apart even from misunderstandings about the true nature of the songs or chants covered by the words that are generally known, there are a great number of terms describing songs of particular tvpes which are far from generallyknown. “Pao,” for example, are lighter “ditties” especially about the singer's love life and often composed extempore; “oriori” are songs composed for children, not strictly lullabies but as a means of passing on traditions in a society which lacked the written word; “karanga” are marae calls; "karakia” are spells and incantations which are used in all situations of life but seldom recorded because those who perform them regard them as tapu; “paatere kaioraora” are retorts to insults or slanders, and often are abusive and defamatory in themselves.

If this suggests that pre-European Maoil life was complex and sophisticated, for all its "savagery,” the impression is amply confirmed when the songs themselves are studied. For each of the songs transcribed the authors gives notes on its composition, the Maori text, an

English translation, detailed notes about the language and imagery of the song, and then the song itself with music. Many of the chants refer to features of Maori life which lie in the nowdistant past, warfare and cannibalism among them. Many of the songs were composed after the Europeans arrived, but draw heavily on traditional sources, including elliptical stock phrases. Almost all of them are highly ingenious verbally, replete with puns and double metaphors and much, the authors candidly admit, has scarcely been investigated yet. “Songs,” the authors write, “were basic to Maori life and thought, an essential means of expression and communication in an extremely wide range of social situations.” The texts of the songs and the notes as complete as present knowledge allows, provide an insight into the whole culture and society of Maori society only slightly affected by European ideas and sensibilities. A comparable volume for contemporary society would have to deal with the whole range of music heard from radio stations — pop songs, light classical music, and the more serious formal classical music. If the authors had wished to provide such an insight, it would have been enough to have given just the explanations, notes, and the texts of the songs and chants. But the authors have gone to great trouble to transcribe the music. This should serve a more important purpose than merely reminding readers that the songs were meant to be performed, not read. Using a notation devised for one style of music to transcribe another is never entirely satisfactory, and traditional Maori music is based on different principles and assumptions about what is musical than traditional European music. But the notation used should be intelligible to those with only a rudimentary knowledge of music, and an imaginative reading of the musical “score” provided for each song should enable anyone to understand how’ the song or chant would sound when actually performed.